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Alternative Title

Provincia Viennensis. Research on the ecclesiastical province of Vienne and its bishops in the Early Middle Ages (IV- XI centuries)

Abstract

The evolution and the consistency of the province of Vienne, which counts five dioceses in 450, six by 580 and four by 800, depend on the political history because the changes of sovereignty and the royal and imperial decisions could as well make it possible for the bishops to increase their influence as to hinder their Viennese intentions. That does not prevent the formation of a heart of the province made up of the cities of Vienne, Geneva, Grenoble and Valence. The metropolis hosts administrations and royal sepulchers, enjoys active bishops devoted both in the Church and the century activities, and possesses a very complete religious topography which differentiates it from its suffragans. This hyper concentration of Vienne seems at the same time the cause and the consequence of the development of an ecclesiastical province where the bishops play a fundamental role.The prelates, often coming from the old Gallo-Roman senatorial families, carry out until the beginning of the VIII century many prerogatives on behalf of the sovereigns and occupy in their cities a considerable place, as well during their lifetime as after their death. When the Carolingians came to power, the bishops’ circle opens socially and geographically, which results in a modification of the funerary traditions. The bishops, who benefit from the cultural policy undertaken under the Pippinides, as the genuine work of Adon of Vienne points it out, remain attached to a Carolingian outlook of the common weal. From the end of the IX century onwards, the bishops of Geneva seek to move away from their archbishops, fervent supporters of the Bosonides, while getting closer to the Rodolpohiens and then to the emperor.The Church of Vienne obtains rapidly a chapter cathedral, houses big monasteries, Old Testament relics, a sumptuous chief-reliquary and one of the rare imitations of the Holy Sepulchre attested before the XI century. The other Churches appear less original and less structured. The ecclesiastical institutions, the recruitment of the clergy and to a certain extent the worship of the saints reveal however the survival of a certain Roman tradition on a provincial scale. Thus, the bishops keep full control of the regular life, the handling of the relics and the saints, the creation of the parishes and probably the construction of the rural churches. The monks, the aristocrats and the canons have consequently very often a limited room for maneuver. This feature is particularly evident in Vienne where the archbishops hold personally or almost entirely their diocese.